Facebook's rolling out some new updates to its Branded Content tags in an effort to provide more transparency on brand/creator partnerships.
Facebook first launched it's Branded Content tags back in 2016, and has since been working to improve the system in order to help maximize brand partnerships, including influencer marketing arrangements, while also providing adequate notification of such to users.
First off, Facebook's changing the 'Paid' tag on Branded Content posts to 'Paid Partnership', better clarifying what the post note actually means.
Evidently, there's been some confusion about the 'Paid' listing, or it may have just not been visible enough. Now, the 'Paid Partnership' note makes it a little clearer, which should help.
In addition to this, Facebook's also adding a new information tag to the top right of the main post image which will link to more info about the brand/creator partnership.
Both measures add more up front transparency to such collaborations - and with more businesses looking to influencer marketing, such tools are becoming increasingly important in the wider social marketing scope.
Facebook's also developing additional types of brand collaboration options, including tools which would enable Pages to tag other Pages (Pages can currently only tag other Pages through the Branded Content tool) and new presentation options for sponsorships.
On Page tagging, Facebook says that it's specifically testing the ability for Pages to tag one another for collaborations or other non-financially motivated relationships.
"A musician could tag a collaborator on a song, a team could tag an athlete in a post, or a video creator might tag someone who appeared in his or her video to acknowledge their creative contribution".
This type of tagging seems less about sponsored content and more about showcasing collaboration - which you can already do to a degree via basic post tags (@ mentioning the relevant Page within your post text). This new option would make such connection clearer, with Facebook no doubt providing the capacity for the tagged entity to approve or reject such tags.
On sponsorships, Facebook says that it's "testing the ability to denote sponsor partnerships with a message within the content, rather than labels on the post". That may mean more specific branding options within a post, potentially including a brand logo somewhere in the message.
And lastly, Facebook's also updating its Brand Collabs Manager tool, the brand/influencer connection platform which it launched earlier this year.
As explained by Facebook:
"Earlier this year, we announced Brand Collabs Manager and launched it in the US, helping brands find creators to collaborate with for Facebook branded content opportunities. We have seen a strong interest, so we will be expanding internationally in the coming weeks to more countries, including India, Germany, Mexico, Thailand and The United Kingdom."
Again, given the growth of influencer marketing, it makes sense for Facebook - and really, all social networks - to provide tools to assist. Brand Collabs manager gives businesses access to a range of insights on potential influencers, and facilitates connection with them to help boost reach to relevant audiences.
Facebook says that it's also developing new tools for Brand Collabs Manager, including the capacity for brands to post marketing project briefs, which interested creators can then respond to. They're also looking to add more filters for advertisers to help find the right creators to work with, including keyword search and location filters.
Given the power that influencers now hold in relation to boosting brand awareness and driving action - particularly as it relates to platform and creative expertise - it makes sense for Facebook to add more tools to better clarify such partnerships, ensuring users understand why they're seeing certain messages, and what each endorsement actually means.
It's a difficult area to police, if a brand or user doesn't add the Branded Content tags, it's difficult to detect, but these new measures add extra elements to the process, with the advancements being added to the Brand Collabs tool of particular value.
You can check out Brand Collabs Manager for yourself here.
